Playing the Turnaround

I am going to add 100 shares of Walgreen (WAG: NYSE). The stock is down slightly today, and this is a good long-term turnaround story.

The stock is trading at 13.5 times earnings, is close to a five-year low and has underperformed the S&P by 20% in that time period. In other words, I think the bad news is in the stock. The company has finally realized that it needs to reduce square footage and focus on internal store execution. I think that as the company does this, it will be worth the wait. Typically, when companies have done this (Wal-Mart (WMT:NYSE) and McDonald's (MCD:NYSE) come to mind), it has led to better sales, productivity and earnings. I think this is a long-term idea that makes sense to buy, especially because it is somewhat immune to the economy. After my purchase, I will own 1,300 shares of WAG, or 1.38% of the portfolio.

Regards,

Jim Cramer

DISCLOSURE: At the time of publication, Cramer was long WAG, WMT and MCD.

Send email to james.cramer@thestreet.com.

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James J. Cramer is a Markets Commentator for TheStreet.com and CNBC, as well as director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. TheStreet.com is a publisher and a registered investment adviser. The Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio (the "Portfolio") contains all of Mr. Cramer's personal investments in publicly-traded equity securities only, and does not include any mutual fund holdings or other institutionally managed assets, private equity investments, or his holdings in TheStreet.com, Inc. In March 2005, these investments were irrevocably conveyed to a Trust, the realized profits from which have been pledged to charity. Mr. Cramer retains full investment discretion with respect to all securities contained in the Trust. Results take into account dividends paid, interest earned on cash, and actual commissions paid. Trades in the Portfolio are generally executed upon receipt of confirmation that the Action Alert email containing the report of such trade has been sent to all Action Alerts PLUS subscribers. Results obtained by subscribers may differ from results obtained by Mr. Cramer for many reasons, including, without limitation: (i) the large size of the Portfolio and the high volume of shares traded by Mr. Cramer tend to reduce the effect of commissions on the overall return of the Portfolio relative to the generally smaller portfolios of subscribers, (ii) the prices of stocks in the Portfolio at the point in time subscribers begin subscribing to Action Alerts PLUS may be higher than such prices at the time of Mr. Cramer's purchases of them, and (iii) subscribers may not have the capital to trade as frequently as Mr. Cramer. Additionally, Mr. Cramer is subject to certain trading restrictions, and must hold all securities in the Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio for at least one month, and is not permitted to buy or sell any security he has spoken about on television or on his radio program, for five days following the broadcast.

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